Rock & Roll Tidbits

Steppenwolf's lead singer, John Kay is seldom seen without sun glasses due to the fact that he has been legally blind since childhood.

Before Bobby "Boris" Pickett released "The Monster Mash" in 1962, he was working as an actor, making appearances on the TV shows Bonanza, The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction.

Blood, Sweat and Tears concert contract stated that their shows are not to be advertised as a reunion concert, even though the band has split and re-united at least five times.

Buddy Holly asked his future wife for a date, 30 seconds after meeting her and proposed later the same week. Six months earlier, he had recorded a song called "Take Your Time".

In 1957, Frank Sinatra was quoted as saying "Rock 'n' Roll is phony and false, and sung, written and played for the most part by cretinous goons."

October 17th, 1990 marked the first time that the #1 album in the United States was only available on CD or cassette - and could not be found on vinyl. The album was Vanilla Ice's "To The Extreme".

Songwriter Tommy Durden showed his partner Mae Axton a newspaper story about a suicide victim who had left a one-line note that said "I Walk A Lonely Street". The pair added "Heartbreak Hotel" to the line and in 22 minutes had written Elvis Presley's first million seller.

Vaudevillian Jack Norworth wrote "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in 1908 after seeing a sign on a bus advertising BASEBALL TODAY - POLO GROUNDS. Norworth and his friend, Albert von Tilzer (who wrote the music) had never been to a baseball game before his song became a hit.

Pat Boone was a semi-finalist on the TV talent show Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, but before the finals, he appeared on a similar show called Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, for a fee of $600. Ted Mack's show then disqualified him, as he was no longer an amateur, costing Pat a chance at a $6000 scholarship.

In 1972, Keith Richards and his girlfriend at the time, Anita Pallenberg, rented a lavish palace on the French Riviera while the band was recording the LP “Beggar’s Banquet.” Included in the household budget was $1,000 for food, $1,000 for alcohol, $2,500 for the rent and $2,500 for drugs.

Two of Jim Croce's biggest hit songs were inspired by real people. Leroy Brown was a fellow member of the Air National Guard who had gone AWOL and Big Jim Walker ("You Don't Mess Around With Jim") was a pool shootin son-of-a-gun from south Philadelphia.

Brenda Lee's 1960, US number one hit, "I'm Sorry", was recorded at the tail end of a recording session with just five minutes of studio time left. It was intended to be the "B" side of a 45 that featured "That's All You Gotta Do", but disc jockeys flipped the platter over and "I'm Sorry" soon shot to the top of Billboard's Hot 100.

Jim McGuinn of The Byrds changed his middle name to Roger and began using it as a stage name after becoming interested in Eastern religion. A guru had told him that names starting with the letter "R" would vibrate better with the universe.

When Paul McCartney wants to play some of his old Beatles' hits in concert, he must pay a royalty fee to Michael Jackson, who bought the publishing rights for $47.5 million in 1985.

In 1929, American Paul Galvin, the head of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, invented the first car radio. Consumers had to purchase the radios separately as they were not available from carmakers. Galvin coined the name Motorola for the company's new products, combining the idea of motion and radio.

When Richard Penniman was asked how he came by his stage name, he said that in his childhood neighborhood, there were only two nicknames used, 'lil and bro. That's when he became Little Richard.

When John Lennon's Aunt Mimi bought him his first guitar in the summer of 1956, he practiced constantly. As she watched him play hour after hour, day after day, she finally remarked "The guitar's all very well John, but you'll never make a living out of it."

During the early stages of their careers, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Hall and Oates and Steve Martin were all opening acts for the rock and roll nostalgia group, Sha Na Na.

The Crickets were given awards as the Best Vocal Group in the US and Great Britain in 1957, despite the fact that the only member of the group that actually sang was Buddy Holly. The background vocals for their number one hit "That'll Be The Day" were sung by Gary and Ramona Tollet.

Roy Orbison's highest charting album did not come about until after his untimely death in 1989. "Mystery Girl" reached #5 and was eventually certified platinum.

Aerosmith was known to bring a chainsaw with them out on tour so that they could chop up hotel rooms with greater efficiency. They also traveled with extra-long extension cords. Their reasoning? So the TVs that they tossed out of their hotel rooms would stay on and keep playing all the way to the ground before they were smashed up.

Danny and the Juniors' 1958, Top 20 hit "Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay" was written in response to a rock record smashing party sponsored by St Louis radio station KWK.